Bathrooms: 1920s luxury

Obsessive attention to detail transformed this small space into a natural extension of the apartment and an elegant nod to 1920s style.

1920s luxury in the powder room. Photograph by Jackie Meiring.
This petite space really is a powder room: an extension of the 1920s luxury evoked throughout the entire apartment. Photograph by Jackie Meiring.

 

HOME What were the key decorative moves you made in this small space?

Jonathan Rutherford-Best, owner It’s very small – it really is a powder room. We wanted to evoke a sense of 1920s luxury throughout the entire apartment, and this powder room has all the hallmarks of the period. There’s a beautiful hexagonal mirror that is mounted above a delicate glass shelf and a sink and taps that feel like they’re from the 1920s. And the artwork by Derek Henderson hangs there beautifully, too.

Andrew Glenn, owner We were deeply obsessive about some of the details, and almost drove the builder to despair. The sink took me a week to find and wasn’t in stock so we had to order it. But the end result is that the powder room feels like an integral part of the apartment.

Design details

Sink From Mico Bathrooms.
Tapware From Mico Bathrooms.
Tiles Wall tiles from Heritage Tiles.
Glass shelf From Devon & Devon.
Mirror From Devon & Devon.
Artwork Photograph by Derek Henderson from Melanie Roger Gallery.

Related articles

Natural clarity

Designed to merge into its coastal environs, this island home utilises board and batten cedar cladding to create a gentle visual rhythm that moves gracefully between indoors and out.

Al fresco connection

Utilising the existing design language of a mid-century modern home in Remuera, Johnston Architects and Bespoke Interior Design set about redesigning a pool house and creating an outdoor room, resulting in a trio of interconnected areas spanning indoors and out.

Angle grinder

During a visit to Waiheke a decade or so ago, an architect was struck by a simple, refined sculpture and the way that its ad hoc form, created from a roll of corrugated iron, twisted down a hillside, creating and enclosing spaces.

A minimalist Herne Bay ‘city base’

On a prominent street corner in Grey Lynn bordering the heritage zone, this rectilinear addition presents a new and mostly closed face — a bold architectural statement that gives way to refined interior spaces.